Prompting method and apparatus

ABSTRACT

A prompting method includes: sending, by a server, a navigation map requested to be outputted to a user device when receiving a map output request of the user device, the navigation map being outputted by the user device, wherein the navigation map is pre-generated according to an article position of an article in a place; acquiring article identification information of a pre-searching article; acquiring an article position of the pre-searching article in the place; acquiring a device position of the user device in the place; and generating a navigation prompt message according to a distance between the device position and an article position of each pre-searching commodity, and triggering the user device to output the navigation prompt message in the navigation map, the navigation prompt message being used for prompting the article position of each pre-searching article and a distance to the device position to a user.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(a) to ChinesePatent Application No. 2016107187412, filed Aug. 24, 2016, the entirecontents of which is hereby incorporated by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present application relates to the field of electronic technologies,and more particularly, to a prompting method and a prompting apparatus.

BACKGROUND

With the economic development and improvement of living standards,emporiums, supermarkets, warehouses and other large shopping placescapable of storing articles are gradually rising.

Complex types of articles are placed in emporiums, supermarkets,warehouses and other places, while there are thousands of categories andquantities of the articles and the placing positions thereof are notsure; therefore, it will usually spend much time for a user to find anarticle to be searched in these places, which results in slow efficiencyand great inconvenience.

SUMMARY

In light of this, a technical problem to be solved by the presentapplication is to provide a prompting method and a prompting apparatus,which improves the convenience for searching articles, and increases thesearching efficiency.

In order to solve the foregoing technical problem, a first aspect of thepresent application provides a prompting method, including:

sending, by a server, a navigation map requested to be outputted to auser device when receiving a map output request of the user device, thenavigation map being outputted by the user device, wherein thenavigation map is pre-generated according to an article position of eacharticle in a place;

acquiring article identification information of a pre-searching article;

acquiring an article position of the pre-searching article in the place;

acquiring a device position of the user device in the place; and

generating a navigation prompt message according to a distance betweenthe device position and an article position of each pre-searchingarticle, and triggering the user device to output the navigation promptmessage in the navigation map, the navigation prompt message being usedfor prompting the article position of each pre-searching article and adistance to the device position to a user.

A second aspect of the present application provides a prompting method,including:

sending, by a user device, a map output request to a server;

acquiring a navigation map requested to be outputted by the user deviceand provided by the server, and outputting the navigation map, thenavigation map being pre-generated according to an article position ofan article in a place;

acquiring a navigation prompt message sent by the server, the navigationprompt message being generated by the server according to an articleposition of the pre-searching article in the place and a device positionof the user device in the place, and according to a distance between thedevice position and an article position of each pre-searching article;and

outputting the navigation prompt message in the navigation map, thenavigation prompt message being used for prompting the article positionof each pre-searching article and a distance to the device position to auser.

A a third aspect of the present application provides a promptingapparatus applied to a server, including:

a map sending module configured to send a navigation map requested to beoutputted to a user device when receiving a map output request of theuser device, the navigation map being outputted by the user device,wherein the navigation map is pre-generated according to an articleposition of an article in a place;

an article determination module configured to acquire articleidentification information of a pre-searching article;

an article position determination module configured to acquire anarticle position of the pre-searching article in the place;

a user position determination module configured to acquire a deviceposition of the user device in the place; and

a first prompt triggering module configured to generate a navigationprompt message according to a distance between the device position andan article position of each pre-searching article, and trigger the userdevice to output the navigation prompt message in the navigation map,the navigation prompt message being used for prompting the articleposition of each article to be searched and a distance to the deviceposition to a user.

A third aspect of the present application provides a prompting apparatusapplied to a user device, including:

a map output module configured to send a map output request to a server,acquire a navigation map requested to be outputted by a user device andprovided by the server and output the navigation map, the navigation mapbeing pre-generated according to an article position of an article in aplace; and

a first prompting module configured to acquire a navigation promptmessage sent by the server, and output the navigation prompt message inthe navigation map, the navigation prompt message being generated by theserver according to an article position of the pre-searching article inthe place and a device position of the user device in the place, andaccording to a distance between the device position and an articleposition of each pre-searching article, and the navigation promptmessage being used for prompting the article position of eachpre-searching article and a distance to the device position to a user.

Compared with the prior art, the technical effects that may be obtainedby the present application include:

the navigation prompt message is outputted in the navigation map toprompt the article position of each pre-searching article and thedistance to the device position to the user. When searching the article,the user may intuitively acquire the article position of thepre-searching article and the distance to the user according to thenavigation prompt message in the navigation map, thus being capable ofquick finding the pre-searching article in the place, so that thesearching time is saved, the searching convenience is improved, and thesearching efficiency is increased.

Of course, implementing any product of the present application does notnecessarily need to achieve all of the technical effects described aboveat the same time.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The drawings illustrated herein are intended to provide furtherunderstanding of the present application, constituting a part of thepresent application. Exemplary embodiments and explanations of thepresent application here are only for explanation of the presentinvention, but are not intended to limit the present application. In thedrawings:

FIG. 1 is a flow chart of one embodiment of a prompting method of theembodiments of the present application;

FIGS. 2a to 2d are schematic diagrams for prompting shopping guide ofthe embodiments of the present application during practical application;

FIG. 3 is a structural schematic diagram of one embodiment of aprompting apparatus of the embodiments of the present application; and

FIG. 4 is a structural schematic diagram of another embodiment of aprompting apparatus of the embodiments of the present application.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The implementation manners of the present application will be explainedin details with reference to the drawings and embodiments hereinafter,so that the realization process of how to solve the technical problemsusing a technical means and achieve the technical efficacy can besufficiently understood and implemented accordingly.

The technical solutions of the present application are mainly applied tosupermarkets, emporiums, warehouses and other places for storing anumber of articles, and especially applied to shopping places likesupermarkets, emporiums, etc. Because there are complex types ofarticles in the shopping places, it will usually spend much time for auser to find an article expected to be purchased, which results inextreme inconvenience in searching commodities, and affects thesearching efficiency of the commodities, so as to affect the shoppingefficiency.

In order to solve the technical problems in the prior art that articlesearching is inconvenient and the searching efficiency is affected, inthe embodiments of the present application, a server sends a navigationmap to a user device to output, the navigation map being pre-generatedaccording to an article position of each article in a place; anavigation prompt message is generated according to an article positionof a pre-searching article and a device position of the user device, andaccording to a distance between the device position and the articleposition of each pre-searching article, the navigation prompt messagebeing outputted by the user device in the navigation map; moreover, thenavigation prompt message is also used for prompting the articleposition of each pre-searching article and a distance to the deviceposition to a user. When searching the article, the user may intuitivelyacquire the article position of the pre-searching article and thedistance to the user according to the navigation prompt message in thenavigation map, thus being capable of quick finding the pre-searchingarticle in the place, so that the searching time is saved, the searchingconvenience is improved, and the searching efficiency is increased.

The technical solutions of the present application will be described indetails hereinafter with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a flow chart of one embodiment of a prompting method providedby the embodiments of the present application. The method may includethe several steps as follows.

In step 101: a user device sends a map output request to a server.

In step 102: the server sends a navigation map requested to be outputtedby the user device to the user device.

In step 103: the user device outputs the navigation map.

Wherein, the navigation map is pre-generated by the server according toan article position of each article in a place. Different articles aredistinguished through article identification information. The articleidentification information may include an article type name, an articlebrand name and/or an article model, or the like.

During practical application, one company may have more places, and eachplace may be corresponding with a navigation map.

The map output request may carry a place identity and other information.The server may search a navigation map corresponding to the placeidentity and send the navigation map to the user device, then the userdevice can output the navigation map.

The user device may be a mobile phone, a tablet and other portabledevice used by the user, and the map output request is triggered by theuser through the user device, so that the user can view the navigationmap.

The server may be a background processing system in the place, and mayinclude one or more processing devices.

In step 104: the server acquires article identification information of apre-searching article.

Wherein, as a probable implementation manner, the article identificationinformation may be an article type name, for example, “shampoo”, “milkpowder”, or the like.

The article identification information of the pre-searching article maybe provided by the user through the user device, for example, inputtedby the user, and then sent to the server by the user device, then theserver may take an article corresponding to the article identificationinformation as the pre-searching article.

As another probable implementation manner, the navigation map ispre-generated according to the article position of the article in theplace. Therefore, a position of each article in the place may be viewedthrough the navigation map. The article identification information maybe outputted at each article position in the navigation map so as todistinguish different articles.

The user may use the user device to perform a recording operation at adisplay position of any article in the navigation map according to thearticle identification information, then the server may take the articleas the pre-searching article and record article identificationinformation of the pre-searching article.

Therefore, the acquiring the article identification information of thepre-searching article by the server is specifically acquiring a recordedpre-searching article and the article identification information of thepre-searching article.

Moreover, the use may perform a triggering operation at the displayposition of any article. The user device generates an article outputrequest after detecting the triggering operation and sends the articleoutput request to the server, then the server may send first articleinformation of an article requested to be outputted in the articleoutput request to the user device and then the first article informationis outputted through the user device. The first article information mayinclude an article identity, an article price, an article origin, anarticle introduction content and other information.

The user may also trigger the user device to generate a pre-searchingrequest with respect to the first article information, and the userdevice sends the pre-searching request to the server, then the servermay take an article corresponding to the first article information as apre-searching commodity, and record article identification informationof the pre-searching commodity.

In one practical application, the technical solutions of the embodimentsof the present application may be applied to supermarkets, shoppingmalls and other shopping places. The article refers to a commodityspecifically, and the pre-searching article may refer to apre-purchasing commodity specifically. The pre-searching request mayrefer to a pre-purchasing request specifically. The user may select anyarticle according to the article identification information in thenavigation map, for example, perform a triggering operation with respectto a display position corresponding to any article in the navigationmap, so that the user device may be triggered to generate an articleoutput request; then the user device receives the article output requestand sends the article output request to the server.

The server may acquire the article output request sent by the userdevice; send the first article information of the article requested tobe outputted in the article output request to the user device, the firstarticle information being output by the user device; when receiving apre-purchasing request of the user device, the server may take thearticle corresponding to the first article information as apre-purchasing commodity and record article identification informationof the pre-purchasing commodity, wherein the pre-purchasing request mayalso carry a purchasing quantity and other purchasing information, sothat the server may record purchasing information of the pre-purchasingcommodity and output the purchasing information to a pre-purchasing listof the user device, wherein the pre pre-purchasing list may includepurchasing information of each pre-purchasing commodity, etc. Therefore,after the user device outputs the navigation map, the server may acquirethe article identification information of the pre-purchasing commodityfrom records; moreover, the article identification information of thepre-purchasing commodity may be acquired from the records afterreceiving a navigation request sent by the user device. The navigationrequest may be triggered with respect to the pre-purchasing listoutputted by the user device.

Wherein, more pre-searching articles may be included.

Wherein, step 104 may be performed after receiving the navigationrequest, and the navigation request may be generated and sent accordingto a navigation triggering operation of the user after the user deviceoutputs the navigation map.

In step 105: the serer acquires an article position of the pre-searchingarticle in the place.

Different pre-searching articles may be recognized according to thearticle identification information, which may specifically be: searchingand acquiring the article position of the pre-searching article in theplace from the navigation map according to the article identificationinformation.

In step 106: the server acquires a device position of the user device inthe place.

The device position of the user device may be positioned and uploaded tothe server by the user device. Certainly, it may also be determined bythe server, which will be introduced in details in the embodimentshereinafter.

Wherein, the device position of the user device may be acquired andupdated in real time.

In step 107: the server generates a navigation prompt message accordingto a distance between the device position and an article position ofeach pre-searching article.

In step 108: the user device outputs the navigation prompt message inthe navigation map.

Wherein, the navigation prompt message is used for prompting the articleposition of each pre-searching article and a distance to the deviceposition to the user; and certainly, may be used for prompting aspecific distance between each pre-searching article and the deviceposition to the user, etc.

The server generates the navigation prompt message according to thedistance between the article position of each pre-searching article andthe device position, and triggers the user device to output thenavigation prompt message, to facilitate the user to view; and the usermay determine the distance of each pre-searching article to the useraccording to the navigation prompt message, thus being capable ofquickly finding the pre-searching article in the place, so that thesearching time is saved, the searching convenience is improved, and thesearching efficiency is increased.

Wherein, as another embodiment, the server, after acquiring the articleposition of the pre-searching article in the place, may generate anarticle prompt message according to the article position of thepre-searching article; and trigger the user device to output acorresponding article prompt message at the display position of eachpre-searching article in the navigation map. The article prompt messageis used for prompting the article position of the pre-searching articlein the place to the user.

The user device, after receiving the article prompt message of theserver, can output the article prompt message at the display position ofeach pre-searching article in the navigation map according to thearticle position of the pre-searching article. The article promptmessage is used for prompting the article position of each pre-searchingarticle to the user.

As another embodiment, the article prompt message may be generatedaccording to the article position of the pre-searching article in casethat the device position of the user device is not in the place, or thedevice position of the user device in the place cannot be acquired; andthen the user device is triggered to output the corresponding articleprompt message at the display position of each pre-searching article inthe navigation map.

That is, during practical application, for instance, in a supermarket,an emporium or other shopping place, the user may acquire a navigationmap corresponding to the shopping place through the user device firstlywhen not entering the shopping place, for instance, at home or otherplace, and select a pre-purchasing commodity, then the server generatesan article prompt message of the pre-purchasing commodity, and generatesa navigation prompt message in the navigation map according to thedevice position of the user device when the user device is detected inthe shopping place.

Certainly, as another embodiment, the pre-searching article is apre-purchasing commodity when in the shopping place; after the userpre-records the pre-purchasing commodity in the server through the userdevice, the user device may also output purchasing information of thepre-purchasing commodity, for example, a commodity pre-purchasingquantity; at this moment, the user may submit a purchasing request ofthe pre-purchasing commodity to the server through the user device, thenthe user generates a transaction order according to the purchasinginformation of the pre-purchasing commodity after receiving thepurchasing request, and sends the transaction order to the user device,wherein the purchasing information is carried in the purchasing request,and may include a purchasing quantity and other commodity information;the user device outputs the transaction order, and the user may triggera payment request after confirming the transaction order, then the userdevice invokes a third party system to perform online payment accordingto a total commodity price of the pre-purchasing commodity, and sendstransaction confirmation information to the server after the onlinepayment is successful. Then the server may prompt a distributionpersonnel to distribute commodity according to the transactionconfirmation information.

Wherein, the transaction order may include a commodity pick-up addressor a commodity receiving address, so that the user may pick up thecommodity at the commodity pick-up address, or the distributionpersonnel delivers the commodity according to the commodity receivingaddress.

Wherein, in order to further improve the searching convenience, andespecially when more pre-searching articles are included, as a probableimplementation manner, the generating, by the server, the navigationprompt message according to the distance between the device position andthe article position of each pre-searching article may be as follows:

the server determines an arrangement number of each pre-searchingarticle according to an arrangement sequence of distances between thedevice position and the article position of each pre-searching articlefrom the near to the distant; and

generates the navigation prompt message including the arrangement numberof each pre-searching article, and triggers the user device to outputthe arrangement number at the display position of each pre-searchingarticle in the navigation map.

The user may determine the distance of the pre-searching article to theuser according to the arrangement number.

Wherein, the arrangement number, for example, may be represented byArabic numerals like 1, 2, 3, 4, . . . . The smaller the numeral is, thecloser the distance is.

Wherein, the navigation prompt message may also include distanceinformation of the device position to the article position of eachpre-searching article, for example, 0.8 m, etc.

Moreover, as another embodiment, the server may also generate navigationroute information according to the device position and the articleposition of each pre-searching article. The navigation route informationis used for prompting the user how to move in the place.

Therefore, the generating, by the server, the navigation prompt messageincluding the arrangement number of each pre-searching article, andtriggering the user device to output the arrangement number at thedisplay position of each pre-searching article in the navigation map mayinclude the followings.

Navigation route information is generated according to the articleposition of each pre-searching article and the distance between thedevice position and the article position of each pre-searching article;to be specific, the navigation route information may be generatedaccording to the distance between the device position and the articleposition of each pre-searching article, so that the navigation routeinformation preferentially prompts the user to go to an article positionof an article closet to the device position.

The navigation prompt message including the arrangement number of eachpre-searching article and the navigation route information aregenerated, and the user device is triggered to output the arrangementnumber at the display position of each pre-searching article in thenavigation map and output the navigation route information in thenavigation map.

Wherein, the navigation map may be pre-generated by the server.

As another embodiment, each article shelf in the place may be providedwith a wireless device.

The navigation map may be pre-generated according to a following manner:

positioning a code scanning position of a hand-held device during eachcode scanning according to a received wireless signal sent by thewireless device when the hand-held device performs code scanning on eacharticle in the article shelf and a position of the wireless device, andtaking the code scanning position of the hand-held device during eachcode scanning as an article position of an article subjected to the codescanning of the handheld device; and

generating the navigation map according to the article position of eacharticle.

The wireless device may be a device that sends wireless signals and/orreceives wireless signals, and may a device that adopts Wi-Fi,Bluetooth, infrared rays, ultra-wideband, RFID, ZigBee or ultrasonictechnology, or the like. During practical application, a low powerconsumption Bluetooth device may be selected as the wireless device; atthis moment, the wireless signal is a Beacon (Beacon) signal namely.

To perform code scanning on each article in the article shelf by thehand-held device specifically refers to scanning an article informationcode on an article overwrap on the article shelf.

During practical application, in order to facilitate the user to searchan article and view related information of the article, for instance, aname, a price, or the like, a label may be usually arranged on thearticle shelf for each article, and the label is used for displayingsecond article information of the article corresponding thereof, whereinthe second article information may be the first article information, andmay certainly be partial information contents in the first articleinformation, for instance, the second article information may include anarticle identity, an article price and other key information.

In a shopping place like a supermarket, an emporium, or the like, thelabel is namely a price label, each article is namely a commodity, andeach article is usually corresponding to one price label for displayinga name, a price and other key information of the article.

Wherein, the label may either be a paper label or an electronic label.The electronic label is an electronic display device placed on thearticle shelf to replace a traditional paper label, can display suchinformation as the price, information code, trademark and/or inventoryof the article, or the like, and may modify the information displayed.

In the shopping place like a supermarket, an emporium, or the like, theelectronic label is namely an electronic shelf label (Electronic ShelfLabel System, ESL).

When the label is an electronic label, the article and the electroniclabel may also be bound. Each label is also provided with a labelinformation code, for example, a one-dimensional code, or atwo-dimensional code, for identifying the label.

In case that the article is bound to the electronic label, i.e., acorresponding relationship between the article information code and thelabel information code is saved in the server, the hand-held device mayalso perform code scanning on a label corresponding to each article inthe article shelf; so that the server may determine the correspondingarticle according to the label information code in the code scanninginformation, thus being capable of determining a wireless devicecorresponding to the article.

In case that the article is not bound to the electronic label, thehand-held device, while performing code scanning on each article in thearticle shelf, may also perform code scanning on the electronic labelcorresponding to the article, so that the code scanning informationcorresponding to each article may include the article information codeand the label information code; the server may also search secondarticle information like an article name and/or article price accordingto the article information code in the code scanning information, andsend the second article information to the electronic labelcorresponding to the label information code, so that the electroniclabel displays the second article information of the correspondingarticle, and then the corresponding relationship between the articleinformation code and the label information code is saved in the server,so as to bind the article to the electronic label.

Wherein, both the article information code of the article and the labelinformation code of the label may be a one-dimensional code, or atwo-dimensional code, etc. The information code may be used foridentifying the article or label uniquely.

Wherein, as a probable implementation manner, a wireless device may bearranged in each layer of bracket in each article shelf to facilitatethe hand-held device to acquire a sending signal of the wireless device.In different brackets, the wireless devices may be arranged at the samepositions or different positions.

The positioning the code scanning position of the hand-held deviceduring each code scanning according to the received wireless signal sentby the wireless device and the position of the wireless device when thehand-held device performs code scanning may be that the position iscalculated and acquired according to a signal intensity of the wirelesssignal of the wireless device received by the hand-held device and theposition of the wireless device.

A distance between the hand-held device and the wireless device may becalculated according to the signal intensity of the wireless devicereceived by the hand-held device, so that the code scanning position ofthe hand-held device may be calculated and acquired according to thedistance between the hand-held device and the wireless device as well asthe position of the wireless device. To be specific, a centroidalgorithm may be adopted to calculate and acquire the code scanningposition of the hand-held device by using the distance between thehand-held device and the wireless device and the position of thewireless device.

The user device may receive wireless signals of more wireless devices,and wireless signals of N wireless devices may be selected and used forcalculation according to a space dimension M of a position coordinatespace and according to a descending sequence of signal intensities.Wherein, N is greater than or equal to M+1, and to be specific, may beequal to M+1. The code scanning position of the hand-held device may becalculated and acquired by using the distance between the hand-helddevice and the N wireless devices and the positions of the N wirelessdevices.

Wherein, as a probable implementation manner, the distance between thehand-held device and the wireless device may be calculated according tothe wireless signal of the wireless device received by the hand-helddevice using a following formula:

${d = 10^{\frac{{R} - A}{10*n}}};$

R represents a signal intensity; d represents a distance between thehand-held device and the wireless device; A represents a signalintensity of a wireless signal sent by a sending device and received bya receiving device when the distance is 1 m; and n represents anenvironmental attenuation factor.

As another probable implementation manner, the distance between thehand-held device and the wireless device may be calculated according tothe wireless signal of the wireless device received by the hand-helddevice using a following formula:

d ² =C ²(R ₀ −R);

R represents a signal intensity, d represents the distance between thehand-held device and the wireless device, C is a conversion scalingfactor, R₀ may be an international standard value, or a mean signalintensity received when sending devices with known positions areinfinitely close to receiving devices of different models.

Of course, the embodiments of the present application are not limited tothe two possible implementation manners above, and the distance betweenthe hand-held device and the wireless device may be calculated by usingdifferent manners according to the practical application situations.

As another probable implementation manner, when arranging the wirelessdevice in the article shelf, each article in each article shelf may becorresponding to one wireless device.

Then the positioning the code scanning position of the hand-held deviceduring each code scanning according to the received wireless signal sentby the wireless device when the hand-held device performs code scanningon each article in the article shelf and the position of the wirelessdevice may include:

determining a wireless device closest to the hand-held device accordingto the received wireless signal sent by the wireless device when thehandheld device performs code scanning on each article in the articleshelf; and

positioning a position of the closest wireless device as the codescanning position of the hand-held device during code scanning.

As another embodiment, each article shelf in the place is provided witha wireless device.

The navigation map is pre-generated according to a following manner.

The server receives the article position of each article uploaded by thehand-held device, wherein, the article position is the code scanningposition of the hand-held device during each code scanning according tothe received wireless signal sent by the wireless device when thehand-held device performs code scanning on each article in the articleshelf and the position of the wireless device.

The navigation map is generated according to the article position ofeach article.

That is, in the embodiment, the article position of the articlesubjected to code scanning of the hand-held device may be acquired bythe positioning of the hand-held device.

Wherein, the position of the wireless device may be acquired by thehand-held device from the server.

Wherein, when arranging the wireless device in the article shelf, eacharticle in each article shelf may be corresponding to one wirelessdevice.

Then the positioning the code scanning position during each codescanning according to the wireless signal of the wireless devicereceived during each code scanning and the position of the wirelessdevice may be as follows.

The hand-held device determines the position of the wireless deviceclosest to the hand-held device according to the wireless signal of thewireless device received during each code scanning and the position ofthe wireless device.

As another embodiment, the wireless device is arranged in each articleshelf in the place, and each wireless device is corresponding to anarticle and a label. The label is used for displaying second articleinformation of a corresponding article thereof; and the second articleinformation, for example, may include an article identity, an articleprice, an article origin and other information.

The navigation map may be pre-generated according to a following manner:

searching, by a server, a corresponding relationship between differentlabels and different wireless devices according to code scanninginformation acquired by the hand-held device through scanning eacharticle in the article shelf and a corresponding label of the article,taking a position of a wireless device corresponding to a label of eacharticle subjected to code scanning as an article position of thearticle; and generating the navigation map according to the articleposition of each article.

Wherein, when the label is an electronic label, each wireless device isintegrated in the electronic label corresponding thereof, and thecorresponding relationship between different labels and differentwireless devices may be that a corresponding relationship between eachwireless device and the label is uploaded to the server after eachwireless device is connected to the server.

As another embodiment, the wireless device is arranged in each articleshelf in the place, and each wireless device is corresponding to anarticle. Each wireless device is provided with a device informationcode.

The navigation map may be pre-generated according to a following manner:

acquiring, by the server, code scanning information according to thecode scanning performed by the hand-held device on each article in thearticle shelf, and the code scanning performed on the correspondingwireless device of the article;

taking a position of the wireless device corresponding to the deviceinformation code as the article position of the article subjected tocode scanning according to the device information code in the codescanning information; and

generating the navigation map according to the article position of eacharticle.

In each embodiment above, the server may also position a position of thehand-held device not subjected to code scanning while not performingcode scanning according to the received wireless signal sent by thewireless device when the hand-held device does not perform code scanningand the position of the wireless device;

then the generating the navigation map according to the article positionof each article may include:

determining an article shelf position of each article shelf according tothe position of each wireless device; and

generating the navigation map according to each article shelf position,the article position of each article, and each shelf channel position.

Certainly, as another implementation manner, the shelf channel positionmay also be acquired through the positioning of the hand-held deviceaccording to the received wireless signal of the wireless device whenthe hand-held device does not perform code scanning and the position ofthe wireless device.

Because there are more articles in the place, the articles may beclassified differently according to article attributes, and then thearticles are placed according to different categories. Different placeshave different classifying demands, for instance, the articles may beclassified according to a fresh category, a grain & oil and seasoningcategory, a wine and instant drinks category, a daily and householdcategory, a culture & sports and household appliance category in such ashopping place like a supermarket. For another example, the articles maybe classified according to a shampoo category, a towel category, a TVcategory, a laundry machine category, etc.

As another embodiment, the generating the navigation map according toeach article shelf position, the article position of each article andeach article shelf position may include:

generating an article category distribution sub-map according to thearticle position of each article and an article category of eacharticle;

drawing an article shelf and a shelf channel with respect to eacharticle category in the article category distribution sub-map andaccording to the article shelf position and the shelf channel position,and generating a shelf distribution sub-map corresponding to eacharticle category;

generating a shelf article distribution sub-map corresponding to eacharticle shelf with respect to each article shelf in the shelfdistribution sub-map and according to the article position of eacharticle; and

establishing a correlation relationship among the article categorysub-map, the shelf distribution sub-map, and the shelf articledistribution sub-map, and generating the navigation map.

Wherein, the shelf article distribution sub-map may also include articleidentification information, an article price, an article picture andother information of each article.

Wherein, an article category to which the article shelf belongs may belabeled in the shelf distribution sub-map.

Because the article category may further be divided, each articlecategory may possibly be not corresponding to one article shelf only.Each article shelf may possibly be corresponding to more articlecategories.

It is provided that the article category may further be divided intodifferent article types acquired, for instance, a daily category articlemay further be divided into shampoo, towel, etc.

Therefore, the drawing the article shelf and the shelf channel withrespect to each article category in the article category distributionsub-map and according to the article shelf position and the shelfchannel position, and generating the shelf distribution sub-map may beas follows:

drawing the article shelf and the shelf channel with respect to eacharticle type in each article category in the article categorydistribution sub-map and according to the article shelf position and theshelf channel position corresponding to the article type, and generatingthe shelf distribution sub-map.

Wherein, when generating the navigation map, a boundary of thenavigation map may be determined firstly. Wherein, the boundary of thenavigation map may be determined according to a building size labeled inan indoor building drawing.

Therefore, the article category distribution sub-map is specificallygenerated in the boundary of the navigation map according to the articleposition of each article and the article category of each article.

When drawing the article shelf and the shelf channel, and an indoorchannel such as a stairway, an elevator and a and the like fire-fightingaccess may also be included, and the indoor channel may be determinedfrom the building drawing.

Therefore, the drawing the article shelf and the shelf channel withrespect to each article category in the article category distributionsub-map and according to the article shelf position and the shelfchannel position, and generating the shelf distribution sub-map may beas follows:

drawing the article shelf, the shelf channel and the indoor channel withrespect to each article category in the article category distributionsub-map and according to the article shelf position, the shelf channelposition and an indoor channel position, and generating the shelfdistribution sub-map.

Because more rooms may be included in the place, and the different roomsmay be arranged in the same floor or different floors, the wirelessdevice is arranged in the article shelf of each room. Article categoriesplaced in each room may be different, for instance, daily categoryarticles may be placed in the rooms at the first floor, and householdcategory articles may be placed in the rooms at the second floor.

The server may determine the article position in each room according tothe position of the wireless device. The generating, by the server, thearticle category distribution sub-map according to the article positionof each article and the article category of each article may be asfollows:

generating an article category distribution sub-map of each roomaccording to the article position of each article in each room and thearticle category of each article.

Wherein, when the wireless device is arranged in the article shelf ofthe place, the user device may send a wireless signal to the wirelessdevice or receive a wireless signal sent by the wireless device.

Therefore, the acquiring, by the server, the device position of the userdevice in the place may specifically be as follows:

positioning the device position of the user device according to thewireless signal of the wireless device received by the user device andthe position of the wireless device corresponding to the wirelesssignal.

Wherein, the position of the wireless device may either be preset ineach embodiment above, or be acquired through calculation.

In a probable implementation manner, the wireless device may include afirst class device and a second class device, wherein a position of thefirst class device is known; the first class device may upload thewireless signal received to the server; and the second class device mayupload the wireless signal received to the server. In order tofacilitate signal transmission, a first control device, which mayspecifically be an AP (Wireless Access Point, Wireless Access Point) maybe arranged in an indoor ceiling of the place, and the wireless signalsreceived by the first class device and the second device are uploaded tothe server through the first control device.

The position of the wireless device may be pre-determined according to afollowing manner:

the user uses the first class device and/or the second class device withdetermined position as the known device, and positions a position of anysecond class device with indeterminate position according to theposition of the known device and a wireless signal sent by any secondclass device with indeterminate position and received by the knowndevice.

Wherein, the second class device may be specifically arranged in thearticle shelf.

In another probable implementation manner, a second control device withknown position is arranged in the indoor ceiling of the place. Thesecond control device may be arranged in the indoor ceiling according toa preset arrangement.

The second control device may upload the wireless signal received by thesecond control device and sent by the wireless device to the server;

then the position of the wireless device may be pre-determined accordingto a following manner:

positioning, by the server, the position of the wireless deviceaccording to the wireless signal received by the second control deviceand sent by the wireless device and a position of the second controldevice.

It is knowable from the descriptions above that the navigation map mayinclude an article category distribution sub-map, a shelf distributionsub-map and a shelf article distribution sub-map.

As another embodiment, when the server receives a map output request ofthe user device, a pre-generated navigation map is sent to the userdevice specifically, and an article category distribution sub-map in thenavigation map is outputted by the user device.

After acquiring the device position of the user device in the place, themethod may also include:

when a distance between the device position and any article category isless than a first preset distance, triggering the user device to outputa shelf distribution sub-map corresponding to the article category; and

when a distance between the device position and any article shelf isless than a second preset distance, trigger the user device to output ashelf article distribution sub-map of the article shelf.

The server may generate a first triggering request when the distancebetween the device position and any article category is less than thefirst preset distance, send the first triggering request to the userdevice, and output a shelf distribution sub-map corresponding to thearticle category when the user receives the first triggering request;generate a second triggering request when the distance between thedevice position and any article category is less than the second presetdistance, send the second triggering request to the user device, andoutput a shelf distribution sub-map corresponding to the articlecategory when the user receives the second triggering request.

That is, the shelf distribution sub-map is outputted and an articleshelf distribution schematic diagram corresponding to the articlecategory is displayed when the user enters the place and move close tothe region position of any article category; further, when the userapproaches to any article shelf, a shelf article distribution sub-mapcorresponding to the article shelf is outputted.

Of course, excluding outputting different distribution sub-mapsaccording to the position transformation of the user, as anotherembodiment, different sub-maps may also be outputted according to a userrequest.

For example, when the user device outputs the article categorydistribution sub-map and the user device receives a first output requesttriggered by the user with respect to any article category, the firstoutput request is sent to the server; the server triggers a shelfdistribution sub-map corresponding to the article category of therequest outputted by the user device after receiving the first outputrequest; in the shelf distribution sub-map, when the user devicereceives a second output request triggered by the user with respect toany article category, then the second output request is sent to theserver; and the server triggers a shelf distribution sub-mapcorresponding to the article category of the request outputted by theuser device after receiving the second output request.

To facilitate understanding, it is exemplary and explanatory hereinafterwith reference to one practical application. It is provided that thepre-searching articles submitted by the user device include facialcleanser, shampoo, bath towel, coffee, cornmeal, nut, wine, seasoningand aquatic products in a shopping place which is a supermarket.

The server may firstly determine article positions of the pre-searchingarticles in the place, and output an article prompt message of eachpre-searching article in the navigation map for identifying thepositions of the pre-searching articles in the navigation map to promptthe user.

When the navigation map includes an article category distributionsub-map, a shelf distribution sub-map and a shelf article distributionsub-map, and after the server generates the navigation prompt message,the corresponding article prompt message can be outputted at least whenthe user device outputs the article category distribution sub-map andthe shelf distribution sub-map.

When the navigation prompt message includes an arrangement number, acorresponding arrangement number may also be outputted in anydistribution sub-map. It is provided that the articles are arrangedaccording to an arrangement sequence of distances between the deviceposition and the article position of each pre-searching article from thenear to the distant, then the arrangement numbers corresponding to thefacial cleanser, shampoo, bath towel, coffee, cornmeal, nut, wine,seasoning and aquatic products are respectively as follows: 1, 2, 3, 4,5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, wherein the arrangement numbers are represented byArabic numerals. The smaller the numeral is, the closer the distance tothe user is.

As shown in FIG. 2a and FIG. 2b , an arrangement number 201 of apre-searching article is outputted in the article category distributionsub-map. Because the facial cleanser and the shampoo belong to a “skincleaning and caring” article category, the arrangement numbers of thefacial cleanser and the shampoo are outputted at a region position ofthe “skin cleaning and caring” article category; the bath towel belongsto a “daily and household” article category; therefore, the arrangementnumber of the bath towel is outputted at a region position of the “dailyand household” article category, and so on; therefore, the arrangementnumber of the pre-searching article may be outputted at the regionposition corresponding to the article category to which thepre-searching article belongs. Meanwhile, a device position 202, i.e., auser position, may also be outputted. The device position 202 may beupdated in real time according to movement of the user.

It is knowable from FIG. 2a and FIG. 2b that the place includes tworooms: a room in the first floor and a room in the second floor whichare respectively corresponding to an article category distributionsub-map, wherein FIG. 2a is the article category distribution sub-map ofthe second floor, and FIG. 2b is the article category distributionsub-map of the first floor. When the user device acquires the navigationmap, the article category distribution sub-map of any room may beoutputted, or the article category distribution sub-map of the roomclosest to the device position of the user device may be outputted.

Wherein, the navigation prompt message, excluding the arrangement numberof each pre-searching article 201, may also include distance informationand direction information of the article position of each pre-searchingarticle to the device position like the distance information 203 an thedirection information 204 in FIG. 2a and FIG. 2b , wherein the directioninformation may include a navigation direction, and may be representedby using an arrow identity, as shown in FIG. 2a and FIG. 2 b.

Of course, the navigation prompt message may also include navigationroute information generated according to the article position of eachpre-searching article and the distance between the device position andthe article position of each pre-searching article, and the user devicemay output a navigation route in the navigation map according to thenavigation route information.

The user may intuitively see the article position of each pre-searchingarticle and the distance to the user according to the navigation promptmessage in FIG. 2a and FIG. 2b , so that the user may select a searchingsequence according to the navigation prompt message.

The user moves towards the region position of the “skin cleaning andcaring” article category according to the navigation prompt message,wherein the shelf distribution sub-map is outputted when the distance tothe region position of the “skin cleaning and caring” article categoryis less than the first preset distance, as shown in FIG. 2c , and thenavigation prompt message is outputted in the shelf distributionsub-map. Therefore, the user may intuitively determine the article shelfin which the pre-searching article locates.

Further, when the distance of the user to the article shelf in which thefacial cleanser locates is less than the second preset distance, theshelf article distribution sub-map of the article shelf is outputted, asshown in FIG. 2d , so that the user can intuitively determine thebracket of the article shelf on which the pre-searching article locates.

Information like an article of the article may also be outputted in theshelf article distribution sub-map.

Through the embodiments of the present application, when outputting thenavigation prompt message in the navigation map, the user mayintuitively acquire the article position of the pre-searching articleand the distance to the user according to the navigation prompt messagein the navigation map while searching articles, thus being capable ofquickly finding the pre-searching article in the place, so that thesearching time is saved, the searching convenience is improved, and thesearching efficiency is increased.

FIG. 3 is a structural schematic diagram of one embodiment of aprompting apparatus provided by the embodiments of the presentapplication. The apparatus is specifically configured in a server,wherein the apparatus may include:

a map sending module 301 configured to send a navigation map requestedto be outputted to a user device when receiving a map output request ofthe user device, the navigation map being outputted by the user device,wherein the navigation map is pre-generated according to an articleposition of an article in a place;

wherein, the map output request may carry a place identity and otherinformation; to be specific, a navigation map corresponding to the placeidentity may be searched and sent to the user device, then the userdevice can output the navigation map; and

an article determination module 302 configured to acquire articleidentification information of a pre-searching article.

The article identification information of the pre-searching article maybe provided by the user through the user device, for example, inputtedby the user, and then sent to the server by the user device, then theserver may take an article corresponding to the article identificationinformation as the pre-searching article.

As a probable implementation manner, the apparatus may also include:

an article recording module configured to acquire an article outputrequest sent by the user device after send the navigation map requestedto be outputted to the user device, the navigation map being outputtedby the user device, the article output request being triggered by theuser; send first article information of the article requested to beoutputted in the article output request to the user device, the firstarticle information at least including article identificationinformation; and

take an article corresponding to the first article information as thepre-searching article when receiving a pre-searching request sent by theuser device, and record the article identification information of thepre-searching article, the pre-searching request being triggered by theuser;

an article position determination module 303 configured to acquire anarticle position of the pre-searching article in the place;

a user position determination module 304 configured to acquire a deviceposition of the user device in the place; and

a first prompt triggering module 305 configured to generate a navigationprompt message according to a distance between the device position andan article position of each pre-searching article, and trigger the userdevice to output the navigation prompt message in the navigation map,the navigation prompt message being used for prompting the articleposition of each pre-searching article and a distance to the deviceposition to a user.

Wherein, as another embodiment, the apparatus may also include:

a second prompt triggering module configured to generate an articleprompt message according to the article position of the pre-searchingarticle after acquiring the device position of the user device in theplace, and trigger the user device to output the article prompt messageat a display position of each pre-searching article in the navigationmap, the article prompt message being used for prompting the articleposition of each pre-searching article to the user.

As another embodiment, the second prompt triggering module may generatethe article prompt message according to the article position of thepre-searching article in case that the device position of the userdevice is not in the place, or the device position of the user device inthe place cannot be acquired, and then the user device is triggered tooutput the corresponding article prompt message at the display positionof each pre-searching article in the navigation map.

In order to further improve the searching convenience, as a probableimplementation manner, the first prompt triggering module isspecifically configured to:

determine an arrangement number of each pre-searching article accordingto an arrangement sequence of distances between the device position andthe article position of each pre-searching article from the near to thedistant; and

generate the navigation prompt message including the arrangement numberof each pre-searching article, and trigger the user device to output thearrangement number at the display position of each pre-searching articlein the navigation map.

Moreover, as another embodiment, the first prompt triggering module mayalso generate navigation route information according to the articleposition of each pre-searching article and the distance between thedevice position and the article position of each pre-searching article.

Therefore, the first prompting module is specifically configured togenerate the navigation prompt message including the arrangement numberof each pre-searching article and the navigation prompt message of thenavigation route information, and trigger the user device to output thearrangement number at the display position of each pre-searching articlein the navigation map and output the navigation route information in thenavigation map.

Wherein, in the embodiment of the present application, the navigationmap may be pre-generated.

As another embodiment, each article shelf in the place may be providedwith a wireless device; then the apparatus may also include:

a first map generating module configured to position a code scanningposition of a hand-held device during each code scanning according to areceived wireless signal sent by the wireless device when the hand-helddevice performs code scanning on each article in the article shelf and aposition of the wireless device, and take the code scanning position ofthe hand-held device during each code scanning as an article position ofan article subjected to the code scanning of the handheld device; andgenerate the navigation map according to the article position of eacharticle.

Wherein, as a probable implementation manner, each article in thearticle shelf is corresponding to a wireless device.

The first map generating module may specifically be configured to:

determine a wireless device closest to the hand-held device according tothe received wireless signal sent by the wireless device when thehandheld device performs code scanning on each article in the articleshelf; and

position a position of the closest wireless device as the code scanningposition of the hand-held device during code scanning.

Wherein, the first map generating module may also be configured toposition a position of the hand-held device not subjected to codescanning while not performing code scanning according to the receivedwireless signal sent by the wireless device when the hand-held devicedoes not perform code scanning and the position of the wireless device,and take the position of the hand-held device not subjected to codescanning as a position of the hand-held device not subjected to codescanning; and determine an article shelf position of each article shelfaccording to the position of each wireless device.

Then the first map generating module may specifically be configured to:

generate the navigation map according to each article shelf position,the article position of each article, and each shelf channel position.

Wherein, the generating, by the first map generating module, thenavigation map according to each article shelf position, the articleposition of each article and each article shelf position mayspecifically be as follows:

generating an article category distribution sub-map according to thearticle position of each article and an article category of eacharticle;

drawing an article shelf and a shelf channel with respect to eacharticle category in the article category distribution sub-map andaccording to the article shelf position and the shelf channel position,and generating a shelf distribution sub-map corresponding to eacharticle category;

generating a shelf article distribution sub-map corresponding to eacharticle shelf with respect to each article shelf in the shelfdistribution sub-map and according to the article position of eacharticle; and

establishing a correlation relationship among the article categorysub-map, the shelf distribution sub-map, and the shelf articledistribution sub-map, and generating the navigation map.

As another embodiment, each article shelf in the place is provided witha wireless device. The apparatus may also include:

a second map generating module configured to receive an article positionof each article uploaded by the hand-held device, the article positionbeing the code scanning position of the hand-held device during eachcode scanning according to the received wireless signal sent by thewireless device when the hand-held device performs code scanning on eacharticle in the article shelf and the position of the wireless device;and generate the navigation map according to the article position ofeach article.

Wherein, the second map generating module may also be configured toposition a position of the hand-held device not subjected to codescanning while not performing code scanning according to the receivedwireless signal sent by the wireless device when the hand-held devicedoes not perform code scanning and the position of the wireless device,and take the position of the hand-held device not subjected to codescanning as a shelf channel position; and determine an article shelfposition of each article shelf according to the position of eachwireless device.

Then the second map generating module may specifically be configured to:

generate the navigation map according to each article shelf position,the article position of each article, and each shelf channel position.

Wherein, the generating, by the second map generating module, thenavigation map according to each article shelf position, the articleposition of each article and each article shelf position mayspecifically be as follows:

generating an article category distribution sub-map according to thearticle position of each article and an article category of eacharticle;

drawing an article shelf and a shelf channel with respect to eacharticle category in the article category distribution sub-map andaccording to the article shelf position and the shelf channel position,and generating a shelf distribution sub-map corresponding to eacharticle category;

generating a shelf article distribution sub-map corresponding to eacharticle shelf with respect to each article shelf in the shelfdistribution sub-map and according to the article position of eacharticle; and

establishing a correlation relationship among the article categorysub-map, the shelf distribution sub-map, and the shelf articledistribution sub-map, and generating the navigation map.

As another embodiment, the wireless device is arranged in each articleshelf in the place, and each wireless device is corresponding to anarticle and a label. The label is used for displaying second articleinformation of a corresponding article thereof; and

The apparatus may also include:

a third map generating module configured to search a correspondingrelationship between different labels and different wireless devicesaccording to code scanning information acquired by the hand-held devicethrough scanning each article in the article shelf and a correspondinglabel of the article, and take a position of a wireless devicecorresponding to a label of each article subjected to code scanning asan article position of the article; and

generate the navigation map according to the article position of eacharticle.

Wherein, the third map generating module may also be configured toposition a position of the hand-held device not subjected to codescanning while not performing code scanning according to the receivedwireless signal sent by the wireless device when the hand-held devicedoes not perform code scanning and the position of the wireless device,and take the position of the hand-held device not subjected to codescanning as a shelf channel position; and determine an article shelfposition of each article shelf according to the position of eachwireless device.

Then the third map generating module may specifically be configured to:

generate the navigation map according to each article shelf position,the article position of each article, and each shelf channel position.

Wherein, the generating, by the third map generating module, thenavigation map according to each article shelf position, the articleposition of each article and each article shelf position mayspecifically be as follows:

generating an article category distribution sub-map according to thearticle position of each article and an article category of eacharticle;

drawing an article shelf and a shelf channel with respect to eacharticle category in the article category distribution sub-map andaccording to the article shelf position and the shelf channel position,and generating a shelf distribution sub-map corresponding to eacharticle category;

generating a shelf article distribution sub-map corresponding to eacharticle shelf with respect to each article shelf in the shelfdistribution sub-map and according to the article position of eacharticle; and

establishing a correlation relationship among the article categorysub-map, the shelf distribution sub-map, and the shelf articledistribution sub-map, and generating the navigation map.

As another embodiment, the wireless device is arranged in each articleshelf in the place, and each wireless device is corresponding to anarticle. Each wireless device is provided with a device informationcode.

The apparatus further includes:

a fourth map generating module configured to acquire code scanninginformation according to the code scanning performed by the hand-helddevice on each article in the article shelf, and the code scanningperformed on the corresponding wireless device of the article; take aposition of the wireless device corresponding to the device informationcode as the article position of the article subjected to code scanningaccording to the device information code in the code scanninginformation; and generate the navigation map according to the articleposition of each article.

Wherein, the fourth map generating module may also be configured toposition a position of the hand-held device not subjected to codescanning while not performing code scanning according to the receivedwireless signal sent by the wireless device when the hand-held devicedoes not perform code scanning and the position of the wireless device,and take the position of the hand-held device not subjected to codescanning as a shelf channel position; and determine an article shelfposition of each article shelf according to the position of eachwireless device.

Then the fourth map generating module may specifically be configured to:

generate the navigation map according to each article shelf position,the article position of each article, and each shelf channel position.

Wherein, the generating, by the fourth map generating module, thenavigation map according to each article shelf position, the articleposition of each article and each article shelf position mayspecifically be as follows:

generating an article category distribution sub-map according to thearticle position of each article and an article category of eacharticle;

drawing an article shelf and a shelf channel with respect to eacharticle category in the article category distribution sub-map andaccording to the article shelf position and the shelf channel position,and generating a shelf distribution sub-map corresponding to eacharticle category;

generating a shelf article distribution sub-map corresponding to eacharticle shelf with respect to each article shelf in the shelfdistribution sub-map and according to the article position of eacharticle; and

establishing a correlation relationship among the article categorysub-map, the shelf distribution sub-map, and the shelf articledistribution sub-map, and generating the navigation map.

Wherein, in each embodiment above, the position of the wireless devicemay be acquired through calculation.

As a probable implementation manner, the wireless device may include afirst class device and a second class device, wherein a position of thefirst class device is known; the first class device may upload thewireless signal received to the server; and the second class device mayupload the wireless signal received to the server. In order tofacilitate signal transmission, a first control device, which mayspecifically be an AP ((Wireless Access Point, Wireless Access Point)may be arranged in an indoor ceiling of the place, and the wirelesssignals received by the first class device and the class second deviceare uploaded to the server through the first control device.

The apparatus may also include:

a first device positioning module configured to take the first classdevice and/or the second class device with determined position as theknown device, and position a position of any second class device withindeterminate position according to the position of the known device anda wireless signal sent by any second class device with indeterminateposition and received by the known device.

As another probable implementation manner, a second control device withknown position is arranged in the indoor ceiling of the place. Thesecond control device may be arranged in the indoor ceiling according toa preset arrangement.

The apparatus may also include:

a second device positioning module configured to position a position ofthe wireless device according to the wireless signal received by thesecond control device and sent by the wireless device and a position ofthe second control device.

It is knowable from the descriptions above that the navigation map mayinclude an article category distribution sub-map, a shelf distributionsub-map and a shelf article distribution sub-map.

Therefore, as another embodiment, the map sending module is specificallyconfigured to send the pre-generated navigation map to the user devicewhen receiving a map output request of the user device, wherein thearticle category distribution sub-map is outputted by the user device.

The map sending module is also configured to, when a distance betweenthe device position and any article category is less than a first presetdistance, trigger the user device to output a shelf distribution sub-mapcorresponding to the article category after acquiring the deviceposition of the user device in the place; and

when a distance between the device position and any article shelf isless than a second preset distance, trigger the user device to output ashelf article distribution sub-map of the article shelf.

A first triggering request may be generated when the distance betweenthe device position and any article category is less than the firstpreset distance, sent to the user device, and then a shelf distributionsub-map corresponding to the article category is outputted when the userreceives the first triggering request; a second triggering request isgenerated when the distance between the device position and any articlecategory is less than the second preset distance, sent to the userdevice, and then a shelf distribution sub-map corresponding to thearticle category is outputted when the user receives the secondtriggering request.

Wherein, when the wireless device is arranged in the article shelf ofthe place, the user device may also send a wireless signal to thewireless device or receive a wireless signal sent by the wirelessdevice.

Therefore, the user position determination module is specificallyconfigured to:

position a device position of the user device according to the wirelesssignal of the wireless device received by the user device and a positionof the wireless device.

FIG. 4 is a structural schematic diagram of another embodiment of aprompting apparatus provided by the embodiments of the presentapplication. The apparatus is specifically configured in a user device,wherein the apparatus may include:

a map output module 401 configured to send a map output request to aserver, acquire a navigation map requested to be outputted by a userdevice and provided by the server and output the navigation map, thenavigation map being pre-generated according to an article position ofan article in a place;

a first prompting module 403 configured to acquire a navigation promptmessage sent by the server, and output the navigation prompt message inthe navigation map, the navigation prompt message being generated by theserver according to an article position of the pre-searching article inthe place and a device position of the user device in the place, andaccording to a distance between the device position and an articleposition of each pre-searching article, and the navigation promptmessage being used for prompting the article position of eachpre-searching article and a distance to the device position to a user.

Wherein, the pre-searching article may be determined by the useraccording to article identification information inputted and provided bythe user.

As a probable implementation manner, the apparatus may also include:

an article request module configured to receive an article outputrequest triggered by the user with respect to any article in thenavigation map, and send the article output request to the server;receive first article information of the article requested to beoutputted of the user device sent by the server; and send apre-searching request to the server to facilitate the server to take anarticle corresponding to the first article information as thepre-searching article and record article identification information ofthe pre-searching article.

Wherein, as another embodiment, the apparatus may also include:

a second prompting module configured to acquire an article promptmessage sent by the server; and output the article prompt message at adisplay position of each pre-searching article in the navigation mapaccording to the article position of the pre-searching article, thearticle prompt message being used for prompting the article position ofeach pre-searching article to the user.

Wherein, the article prompt message may be the article prompt messagegenerated according to the article position of the pre-searching articlein case that the device position of the user device is not in the place,or the device position of the user device in the place cannot beacquired; and then the user device is triggered to output thecorresponding article prompt message at the display position of eachpre-searching article in the navigation map.

In order to further improve the searching convenience, as a probableimplementation manner, the navigation prompt message includes anarrangement number of each pre-searching article determined by theserver according to an arrangement sequence of distances between thedevice position and the article position of each pre-searching articlefrom the near to the distant; and

the first prompting module is specifically configured to output thearrangement number at the display position of each pre-searching articlein the navigation map.

Moreover, as another embodiment, the navigation prompt message generatefurther includes the navigation route information generated according tothe article position of each pre-searching article and the distancebetween the device position and the article position of eachpre-searching article; and

the first prompting module is also configured to output the navigationroute information in the navigation map.

More rooms may be included in the place, and the different rooms may bearranged different floors, while more article shelves are arranged ineach room, wherein the articles are specifically arranged in the articleshelf, while articles belonging to the same article category are usuallyarranged in the same region.

Therefore, the navigation map may include an article categorydistribution sub-map, a shelf distribution sub-map and a shelf articledistribution sub-map.

The article category distribution sub-map is generated according to aregion portion of the article category of each article; the shelfdistribution sub-map is generated according to a shelf position of eacharticle shelf; and the article category distribution sub-map isgenerated according to the article category of each article.

Then, the map output module is specifically configured to acquire anavigation map requested to be outputted by the user device and providedby the server and output the article category distribution sub-map;

when receiving a first triggering request generated when the serverdetects that a distance between the device position of the user deviceand any article category is less than a first preset distance, output ashelf distribution sub-map corresponding to the article category; and

when receiving a second triggering request generated when the serverdetects that a distance between the device position and any articleshelf is less than a second preset distance, output a shelf distributionsub-map corresponding to the article shelf.

The embodiments of the present application also provide a system forprompting shopping guide, including a server and a user device. Theserver is configured with the prompting apparatus as shown in FIG. 3,and the user device is configured with the prompting apparatus as shownin FIG. 4.

Therefore, the embodiments of the present application also provide auser device, and the user device may include a memory and a processor;

the memory is stored with one set or more sets of program instructions;and

the processor is configured to invoke and perform the one set or moreset of program instructions in the memory to implement the followingoperations:

sending a map output request to a server;

acquiring a navigation map requested to be outputted by the user deviceand provided by the server, and outputting the navigation map, thenavigation map being pre-generated according to an article position ofan article in a place;

providing article identification information of the pre-searchingarticle to the server;

acquiring a navigation prompt message sent by the server, the navigationprompt message being generated by the server according to an articleposition of the pre-searching article in the place and a device positionof the user device in the place, and according to a distance between thedevice position and an article position of each pre-searching article;and

outputting the navigation prompt message in the navigation map, thenavigation prompt message being used for prompting the article positionof each pre-searching article and a distance to the device position to auser.

The embodiments of the present application also provide a server, andthe server may include a memory and a processor;

the memory is stored with one set or more sets of program instructions;and

the processor is configured to invoke and perform the one set or moreset of program instructions in the memory to implement the followingoperations:

sending a navigation map requested to be outputted to a user device whenreceiving a map output request of the user device, the navigation mapbeing outputted by the user device, wherein the navigation map ispre-generated according to an article position of an article in a place;

acquiring article identification information of a pre-searching article;

acquiring an article position of the article to be searched in theplace;

acquiring a device position of the user device in the place; and

generating a navigation prompt message according to a distance betweenthe device position and an article position of each pre-searchingarticle, and triggering the user device to output the navigation promptmessage in the navigation map, the navigation prompt message being usedfor prompting the article position of each article to be searched and adistance to the device position to a user.

Through the prompting system of the embodiment of the presentapplication, when having a searching demand, the user may request toacquire the navigation map from the server, and output the navigationmap through the user device; then the server generates the navigationprompt message according to the article position of the pre-searchingarticle and the device position of the user device, the navigationprompt message being outputted by the user device in the navigation map,wherein, the navigation prompt message is used for prompting the articleposition of each pre-searching article and the distance to the deviceposition to the user; the user may intuitively acquire the articleposition of the pre-searching article and the distance to the useraccording to the navigation prompt message in the navigation map whilesearching articles, thus being capable of quickly finding thepre-searching article in the place, so that the searching time is saved,the searching convenience is improved, and the searching efficiency isincreased.

The functions described in the methods of the embodiments of the presentapplication may be stored in a computing device readable storage mediumif being implemented in a form of software functional units and sold orused as an independent product. Based on such understanding, the part ofthe embodiments of the present application contributing to the priorart, or the part of the technical solution may be implemented in theform of a software product. The computer software product is stored in astorage medium, and includes several instructions for instructing acomputing device (which may be a personal computer, a server, a mobilecomputing device or a network device so on) to execute all or a part ofsteps of the method according to each embodiment of the presentapplication. While the forementioned storage medium includes: any mediumthat is capable of storing program codes, such as a USB disk, a mobilehard disk drive, a read-only memory (ROM, Read-Only Memory), a randomaccess memory (RAM, Random Access Memory), a magnetic disk, or anoptical disk.

The explanation above shows and describes a plurality of preferredembodiments of the present application, but as previously mentioned, itshould be understood that the present application is not limited to theforms disclosed herein, and shall not be deemed as an exclusion to otherembodiments, but can be applied to various other combinations,amendments and circumstances, and can be modified through the foregoingteaching or technologies or knowledge of related arts within the scopeof the application concept herein. While modifications and changes madeby those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scopeof the present application shall all fall within the protection scope ofthe claims of the present application appended.

1. A prompting method, comprising: sending, by a server, a navigationmap requested to be outputted to a user device when receiving a mapoutput request of the user device, the navigation map being outputted bythe user device, wherein the navigation map is pre-generated accordingto an article position of each article in a place; acquiring articleidentification information of a pre-searching article; acquiring anarticle position of the pre-searching article in the place; acquiring adevice position of the user device in the place; and generating anavigation prompt message according to a distance between the deviceposition and an article position of each pre-searching article, andtriggering the user device to output the navigation prompt message inthe navigation map, the navigation prompt message being used forprompting the article position of each pre-searching article and adistance to the device position to a user.
 2. The method according toclaim 1, wherein after the acquiring the article position of thepre-searching article in the place, the method further comprises:generating an article prompt message according to the article positionof the pre-searching article, and triggering the user device to outputthe article prompt message at a display position of each pre-searchingarticle in the navigation map, the article prompt message being used forprompting the article position of each pre-searching article to theuser.
 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the generating thenavigation prompt message according to the distance between the deviceposition and the article position of each pre-searching article, andtriggering the user device to output the navigation prompt message inthe navigation map comprises: determining an arrangement number of eachpre-searching article according to an arrangement sequence of distancesbetween the device position and the article position of eachpre-searching article from the near to the distant; and generating thenavigation prompt message comprising the arrangement number of eachpre-searching article, and triggering the user device to output thearrangement number at the display position of each pre-searching articlein the navigation map.
 4. The method according to claim 3, wherein thegenerating the navigation prompt message comprising the arrangementnumber of each pre-searching article, and triggering the user device tooutput the arrangement number at the display position of eachpre-searching article in the navigation map comprises: generatingnavigation route information according to the article position of eachpre-searching article and the distance between the device position andthe article position of each pre-searching article; and generating thenavigation prompt message comprising the arrangement number of eachpre-searching article and the navigation route information, andtriggering the user device to output the arrangement number at thedisplay position of each pre-searching article in the navigation map andoutput the navigation route information in the navigation map.
 5. Themethod according to claim 1, wherein a wireless device is arranged ineach article shelf in the place; and the navigation map is pre-generatedaccording to a following manner: positioning a code scanning position ofa hand-held device during each code scanning according to a receivedwireless signal sent by the wireless device when the hand-held deviceperforms code scanning on each article in the article shelf and aposition of the wireless device, and taking the code scanning positionof the hand-held device during each code scanning as an article positionof an article subjected to the code scanning of the handheld device; andgenerating the navigation map according to the article position of eacharticle.
 6. The method according to claim 1, wherein each article in thearticle shelf is corresponding to a wireless device; and the positioningthe code scanning position of the hand-held device during each codescanning according to the received wireless signal sent by the wirelessdevice when the hand-held device performs code scanning on each articlein the article shelf and the position of the wireless device comprises:determining a wireless device closest to the hand-held device accordingto the received wireless signal sent by the wireless device when thehandheld device performs code scanning on each article in the articleshelf; and positioning a position of the closest wireless device as thecode scanning position of the hand-held device during code scanning. 7.The method according to claim 1, wherein a wireless device is arrangedin each article shelf in the place; and the navigation map ispre-generated according to a following manner: receiving the articleposition of each article uploaded by the hand-held device, the articleposition is the code scanning position during each code scanningpositioned when the handheld device performs code scanning on eacharticle in the article shelf according to the received wireless signalof the wireless device during each code scanning and the position of thewireless device; and generating the navigation map according to thearticle position of each article.
 8. The method according to claim 1,wherein the wireless device is arranged in each article shelf in theplace, and each wireless device is corresponding to an article and alabel, the label being used for displaying second article information ofa corresponding article thereof; and the navigation map is pre-generatedaccording to a following manner: searching a corresponding relationshipbetween different labels and different wireless devices according tocode scanning information acquired by the hand-held device throughscanning each article in the article shelf and a corresponding label ofthe article, taking a position of a wireless device corresponding to alabel of each article subjected to code scanning as an article positionof the article; and generating the navigation map according to thearticle position of each article.
 9. The method according to claim 1,wherein the wireless device is arranged in each article shelf in theplace, and each wireless device is corresponding to an article; and eachwireless device is provided with a device information code; and thenavigation map is pre-generated according to a following manner:acquiring code scanning information according to the code scanningperformed by the hand-held device on each article in the article shelf,and the code scanning performed on the corresponding wireless device ofthe article; taking a position of the wireless device corresponding tothe device information code as the article position of the articlesubjected to code scanning according to the device information code inthe code scanning information; and generating the navigation mapaccording to the article position of each article.
 10. The methodaccording to claim 5, wherein before the generating the navigation mapaccording to the article position of each article, the method furthercomprises: positioning a position of the hand-held device when thehand-held device does not perform code scanning as a shelf channelposition according to the received wireless signal of the wirelessdevice when the hand-held device does not perform code scanning and theposition of the wireless device; and the generating the navigation mapaccording to the article position of each article comprises: determiningan article shelf position of each article shelf according to theposition of each wireless device; and generating the navigation mapaccording to each article shelf position, the article position of eacharticle, and each shelf channel position.
 11. The method according claim9, wherein the generating the navigation map according to each articleshelf position, the article position of each article, and each shelfchannel position comprises: generating an article category distributionsub-map according to the article position of each article and an articlecategory of each article; drawing an article shelf and a shelf channelwith respect to each article category in the article categorydistribution sub-map and according to the article shelf position and theshelf channel position, and generating a shelf distribution sub-mapcorresponding to each article category; generating a shelf articledistribution sub-map corresponding to each article shelf with respect toeach article shelf in the shelf distribution sub-map and according tothe article position of each article; and establishing a correlationrelationship among the article category sub-map, the shelf distributionsub-map, and the shelf article distribution sub-map, and generating thenavigation map.
 12. The method according to claim 10, wherein thesending, by the server, the navigation map requested to be outputted tothe user device when receiving the map output request of the userdevice, the navigation map being outputted by the user device comprises:sending, by the server, a navigation map pre-generated to the userdevice when receiving the map output request of the user device, thearticle category distribution sub-map being outputted by the userdevice; and after the acquiring the device position of the user devicein the place, the method further comprises: when a distance between thedevice position and any article category is less than a first presetdistance, triggering the user device to output a shelf distributionsub-map corresponding to the article category; and when a distancebetween the device position and any article shelf is less than a secondpreset distance, triggering the user device to output a shelf articledistribution sub-map of the article shelf.
 13. The method according toclaim 1, wherein the pre-searching article is pre-determined accordingto a following manner: acquiring an article output request sent by theuser device after sending the navigation map requested to be outputtedto the user device, the navigation map being outputted by the userdevice, the article output request being triggered by the user; sendingfirst article information of the article requested to be outputted inthe article output request to the user device, the first articleinformation being outputted by the user device, the first articleinformation at least comprising the article identification information;and taking an article corresponding to the first article information asthe pre-searching article when receiving a pre-searching request sent bythe user device, and recording the article identification information ofthe pre-searching article, the pre-searching request being triggered bythe user.
 14. A prompting method, comprising: sending, by a user device,a map output request to a server; acquiring a navigation map requestedto be outputted by the user device and provided by the server, andoutputting the navigation map, the navigation map being pre-generatedaccording to an article position of an article in a place; acquiring anavigation prompt message sent by the server, the navigation promptmessage being generated by the server according to an article positionof the pre-searching article in the place and a device position of theuser device in the place, and according to a distance between the deviceposition and an article position of each pre-searching article; andoutputting the navigation prompt message in the navigation map, thenavigation prompt message being used for prompting the article positionof each pre-searching article and a distance to the device position to auser.
 15. The method according to claim 14, after the acquiring thenavigation map requested to be outputted by the user device and providedby the server, and outputting the navigation map, the method furthercomprises: acquiring an article prompt message sent by the server; andoutputting the article prompt message at a display position of eachpre-searching article in the navigation map according to the articleposition of the pre-searching article, the article prompt message beingused for prompting the article position of each pre-searching article tothe user.
 16. The method according to claim 14, wherein the navigationprompt message comprises an arrangement number of each pre-searchingarticle determined by the server according to an arrangement sequence ofdistances between the device position and the article position of eachpre-searching article from the near to the distant; and the outputtingthe navigation prompt message in the navigation map comprises:outputting the arrangement number at the display position of eachpre-searching article in the navigation map.
 17. The method according toclaim 16, wherein the navigation prompt message further comprisesnavigation route information generated by the server according to thearticle position of each pre-searching article and the distance betweenthe device position and the article position of each pre-searchingarticle; and while outputting the arrangement number at the displayposition of each pre-searching article in the navigation map, the methodfurther comprises: outputting the navigation route information in thenavigation map.
 18. The method according to claim 14, wherein thenavigation map comprises an article category distribution sub-map, ashelf distribution sub-map, and a shelf article distribution sub-map;and the acquiring the navigation map requested to be outputted by theuser device and provided by the server, and outputting the navigationmap comprises: acquiring the navigation map requested to be outputted bythe user device and provided by the server, and outputting the articlecategory distribution sub-map; when receiving a first triggering requestgenerated when the server detects that a distance between the deviceposition of the user device and any article category is less than afirst preset distance, outputting a shelf distribution sub-mapcorresponding to the article category; and when receiving a secondtriggering request generated when the server detects that a distancebetween the device position and any article shelf is less than a secondpreset distance, outputting a shelf distribution sub-map correspondingto the article shelf.
 19. The method according to claim 14, wherein thepre-searching article is pre-determined according to a following manner:receiving an article output request triggered by the user with respectto any article in the navigation map, and sending the article outputrequest to the server; receiving first article information of an articlerequested to be outputted by the user device and sent by the server, thefirst article information at least comprising article identificationinformation; and sending a pre-searching request to the server tofacilitate the server to take an article corresponding to the firstarticle information as the pre-searching article and record articleidentification information of the pre-searching article.
 20. A promptingapparatus applied to a server, comprising: a map sending moduleconfigured to send a navigation map requested to be outputted to a userdevice when receiving a map output request of the user device, thenavigation map being outputted by the user device, wherein thenavigation map is pre-generated according to an article position of anarticle in a place; an article determination module configured toacquire article identification information of a pre-searching article;an article position determination module configured to acquire anarticle position of the pre-searching article in the place; a userposition determination module configured to acquire a device position ofthe user device in the place; and a first prompt triggering moduleconfigured to generate a navigation prompt message according to adistance between the device position and an article position of eachpre-searching article, and trigger the user device to output thenavigation prompt message in the navigation map, the navigation promptmessage being used for prompting the article position of eachpre-searching article and a distance to the device position to a user.